AND SO JOE Schmidt’s wounded Wallabies roll into another Rugby Championship week. With the scars from back-to-back defeats to South Africa still healing, more change is afoot. At the Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi tonight [KO 11pm Irish time, Sky Sports Action], Harry Wilson will become Australia’s eighth captain in just 15 Tests (and fourth under Schmidt) while Hamish Stewart – one of five changes – becomes the Wallabies’ 15th debutant this year.
This is not the sort of chopping and changing we’ve come to expect from Schmidt, but things have not been going to plan since he jumped into the hot seat so swiftly vacated by Eddie Jones.
It has been a difficult start for Schmidt as Wallabies head coach, and already there are real concerns around whether the New Zealander can turn things around ahead of the Lions’ tour down under next year.
Clearly, there is much for Schmidt to address, but it is worth remembering the scale of the task he took on.
This writer covered Jones’ Australia once during last year’s World Cup and a lasting memory is not only how poorly they played in a limp pool stage defeat to Wales, but how utterly dispirited their supporters were on the tram ride out to Lyon’s Groupama Stadium. That night was a low point for one of the great Test nations.
By the time Jones ended his disastrous time in the job, the Wallabies had sunk to ninth in the world rankings having won only two of nine Tests – against Georgia and Portugal – under his watch.
That concerning slump should perhaps have come as no surprise. The problems in Australian rugby are wide and varied.
No Australian side has won a Super Rugby title since the Waratahs’ 2014 success and in a sports-mad country, rugby union continues to face strong competition for attention. Last year the Australian Sports Commission reported 145,000 adults and 95,000 kids playing rugby in 2023, but marked rugby union as the country’s ninth favourite sport, trailing rugby league, soccer, badminton and rock climbing.
Rugby Australia hope that hosting the 2027 World Cup will boost the game significantly in the country, but a strong Wallabies Test side, and a competitive Lions Series in 2025, are important steps towards making that happen.
Enter Schmidt, a man who delivered glittering success at Leinster and Ireland before offering New Zealand a timely World Cup boost last year. After the chaos and controversy of Jones, Schmidt was seen as the safe, sensible pair of hands who could whip the Wallabies into shape again.
The New Zealander is now five Tests into his Wallabies tenure, with his team beating Wales (twice) and Georgia in July before those two painful Rugby Championship defeats to South Africa. The first was an utterly one-sided 33-7 defeat in Brisbane where Australia went scoreless for 75 minutes. A week later, a much-changed South Africa recorded a 30-12 win amid horrible conditions in Perth, with all of Australia’s points coming from the boot of Noah Lolesio.
As is so-often the case with a misfiring team, out-half Lolesio has found his role placed under the microscope, yet their problems are not concentrated on the man steering the gameplan on the pitch. With a depleted pack, Australia’s set-piece has struggled, their discipline has been poor and their kick-heavy approach has been criticised.
Lolesio, 24, has been backed to lead from 10 again this weekend, as Schmidt keeps faith with a player who has been in and out of Test squads over the years. A key part of his messaging has been the need for patience with young, less experienced players.
A hefty injury toll hasn’t helped, but Schmidt has downplayed that issue by suggesting he was keen to grow squad depth anyway.
The injury problems are out of Schmidt’s control, but complaints about a limited gameplan will be more stinging and have been getting greater airtime in the build-up to Argentina.
Earlier this week, scrum-half Tate McDermott suggested the players are having difficulties adjusting to the Schmidt way.
McDermott said Schmidt’s tactics were “very different to how every Super Rugby team plays”, adding that “we (Queensland Reds) play a very expansive game and Joe’s plan for us is pretty narrow.”
Schmidt has since had the opportunity to respond to those remarks.
“It’s such a different level from Super Rugby,” Schmidt said.
“I’ve coached a number of years of Super Rugby and a lot more years of Test rugby. If you think you can just supplant one way of playing into a Test arena, I think there’s a degree of risk in that. I’m not saying that we don’t want to play expansively.
“We just probably, in the last couple of weeks, haven’t probably had the conditions and it doesn’t look like we’re going to get the conditions again this week.”
In truth, there will be no squabbling about gameplans if Australian can get a win on the board this weekend – two rounds into the new Rugby Championship season, they are the only team yet to pick up a victory.
Argentina will go into it sensing another scalp, having won their last two fixtures against Australia. While beaten 42-10 by the All Blacks last time out, Felipe Contepomi’s men were excellent in beating New Zealand 38-30 a week previously.
Ahead of a November tour which sees Australia travel to play England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, Schmidt will be determined to start getting some results on the board in the coming weeks and put some positivity back into the commentary around his Wallabies.
He insists this project will take time, but as the weeks fly by, the job looks increasingly difficult and the pressure continues to rise.
